Fox is up for the All-Star Game in New York
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - New York's throwing a heck of a party next week to honor Yankee Stadium's last year as well as the Major League Baseball All-Star Game -- and Fox Broadcasting is planning lots of coverage.
The network will provide exclusive coverage of Tuesday's parade up Sixth Avenue of current All-Stars and what is being billed as the largest collection of living Hall of Famers ever. It won't be live, but this year, it won't be on Fox Sports Network, either. FSN plans to begin its telecast on the broadcast network at 7 p.m. EDT, an hour earlier than previous years.
Chris Rose and Mark Grace will anchor the parade coverage, which will include Hank Aaron, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and Cal Ripken Jr. A stadium ceremony, beginning at 8 p.m. EDT, will feature the All-Stars and Hall of Famers taking the field at their positions. It is even grander than what MLB did in 1999 for a ceremony that honored Red Sox slugger Ted Williams when the All-Star Game was at Fenway Park.
"The program that Major League Baseball has put together will even outdo that magnificent evening," said Fox Sports president Ed Goren.
The game itself will be called as usual by Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Yankees great Yogi Berra will join them in the booth for at least part of the game, McCarver said Wednesday. The ceremony will last until the first pitch, scheduled around 8:40 p.m. There won't be any pre-game show other than the ceremony.
There are plenty of innovations on the field, too. Yankee Stadium will be outfitted with 21 HD cameras, including HD "diamond cams" in front of home plate and around the foul lines. And there are 80 microphones around the stadium and more on players, managers and umpires.
There's even a blimp for the aerial shots, provided by DirecTV.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
